It is a big step for the company, which has been running hotels and resorts in Thailand for decades.

The group has already entered the hotel business in Vietnam with the Harbour View Hotel Hanoi and later introduced the Anantara Spa to several Western countries. In the meantime it has set up marketing offices in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong to attract middle-section to high-end groups.

Minor International is a part of the Minor Group, which is under the leadership of William E Heineke. The Minor Group is one of the country's big players in the food industry, personal products and hospitality services.

Minor International now owns three five-star hotels in Bangkok, Pattaya and Hua Hin, all managed by international hotel-chain operator Marriott.

The group also operates its own brand, with Anantara Resort Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai, Anantara Resort Hua Hin and Anantara Resort Samui Island.

It also operates Manohra Cruises on Bangkok's Chao Phya River and M Spa branches in Thailand and overseas.

"It is really a good time for us to make a move overseas, because we now have a wide range of products. We took five years to build our own brand Anantara, and we will use it as the group's pillar," said general manager Jonathan Wigley.

In the UAE the group will manage two hotels in Dubai, the Anantara Palm and Anantara Lake to open in 2007 and 2008 respectively, each with 7,000 rooms.

"In the long term, we plan to manage another hotel in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi as well as in some other countries such as Oman," said Wigley.

He added that the group would set up an office in Dubai in April 2007 to oversee the Middle East and Maldives markets.

In the Maldives, the group has formed a joint venture with a local partner and developed a resort scheduled to open in July 2006. The group managed a resort there earlier and will manage another one soon.

In Vietnam more resort projects are on the drawing board in Da Nang, Hoi An, Phu Quoc and Na Trang.

In India the group will form joint ventures with local partners to develop hotels and resorts in Goa, Jaripur and Kerala. The group will set up an office there in two years.

Another interest is Sri Lanka, but internal political problems have caused the group to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

Minor will add at least two more Anantara resorts in Phuket and Chiang Mai over the next few years. The Chiang Mai property will be 100 per cent owned the Phuket one a joint venture.

"The group has 370 rooms under the Anantara portfolio. We expect to have 20 new properties in the next five years," said Wigley, adding that the group would operate an Anantara Spa in all the new hotels and resorts.

Apart from overseas moves, the group is investing a total of Bt350 million to Bt400 million for renovation of three Marriott hotels.

"We started the renovation work at Bangkok Marriott first by refurbishing it from a traditional Thai hotel to modern style. We also added new restaurants, new bedding and new facilities for conferences to meet higher demand from business groups. The Marriott Hua Hin and Marriott Pattaya are also being renovated," said Wingley.

At the Bangkok Marriott the group has added two cruisers to its fleet, the Manohra Boat Cruise with a 70-seat capacity, specifically designed for corporate clients, and the Manohra Dream, a six-star cruiser built for overnight stays costing US$2,000 (Bt76,000) per day.

"Today we have five cruisers altogether. We expect to earn Bt70 million this year, up from Bt49 million in the previous year," said Wigley.

In 2006, he added, the total revenue from the three hotels will reach Bt1.6 billion or a 23-per-cent increase from 2005. Of this figure, Bt1 billion will be from the flagship property in Bangkok and Bt400 million and Bt200 million from Pattaya and Hua Hin respectively.

"We have set a new market proportion for hotels by reducing leisure business from 70 per cent to 55 per cent. Another proportion of 35 per cent is for business people, up from 22 per cent. And the remaining 10 per cent is from free individual travellers," said Wigley.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation